The Otago Regional Council could receive a nearly $60 million cash injection from Port Otago over the next three years.
Port Otago will present its statement of corporate intent (SCI) for the next three financial years, to June 30, 2027, at an Otago Regional Council meeting tomorrow.
The company is wholly owned by the council and operates across four sites including Dunedin Bulk Port, Dunedin Depot, Fiordland and Port Chalmers — the primary South Island port for cruise ships.
The meeting’s agenda said the port had “substantially revised” its SCI format in line with a move to integrated reporting and a focus on sustainability and materiality.
Target dividends would bring in $18m in 2025, $20m in 2026 and another $20m in 2027 to the council, which aligned with the amounts included in its 2024-34 long-term plan.
The SCI listed “safety” as Port Otago’s No1 priority as part of its top 11 material issues, which had the same priority as in 2023.
At the bottom of the list was “climate change”.
The SCI stated the port was working on fatigue management, collaborating and making progress on an inland hub, and understanding “nature’s tipping points” and partnering to address them.
It was also working on understanding the impacts of climate change on the port, and would work on reducing its own contribution and influencing others in the supply chain to do the same.
tim.scott@odt.co.nz
